Ben Rice hit his first career grand slam, Aaron Judge singled in two runs among his four hits and the New York Yankees beat the Athletics 12-2 in the rubber match of a three-game series on Sunday afternoon in West Sacramento, Calif.
Paul Goldschmidt had three doubles with two RBIs for the Yankees, who recorded 15 hits and won for the fourth time in their last five games. Judge went 4-for-5 and raised his batting average to a major league-leading .409.
New York starter Ryan Yarbrough (1-0) allowed two runs on six hits with one walk and two strikeouts over five innings.
JJ Bleday homered for the Athletics, who allowed 29 runs in the series and lost for the fourth time in their last five games.
New York set the tone by sending 10 batters to the plate and scoring five runs in the second inning against Luis Severino (1-4), who spent the first eight seasons of his career with the Yankees.
Anthony Volpe singled in a run to begin the scoring, and the Yankees added another run on Oswaldo Cabrera’s bases-loaded walk. After Volpe scored on Jorbit Vivas’ groundout, Rice was hit by a pitch before Judge delivered a two-run single.
Cabrera added a run-scoring double with two outs in the third against Severino, who was making his first career start against his former team.
The Athletics got on the board on Miguel Andujar’s RBI single in the fourth.
Severino was replaced by Mitch Spence after allowing back-to-back singles to begin the fifth. With the bases loaded and two outs, Rice deposited Spence’s 3-1 cutter over the right field wall for his ninth homer of the season.
The Yankees followed with consecutive singles by Judge and Cody Bellinger before Goldschmidt doubled in a run.
Severino gave up eight runs on nine hits over four-plus innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Bleday went deep on the first offering from Yarbrough in the bottom of the fifth for his fifth homer of the season.
The Yankees added to their lead in the seventh when Rice was hit by a pitch, Judge singled and Goldschmidt doubled in a run with one out.
–Field Level Media
